The Osceola times., 1887-05-07

They have been cultivated, but no, TO
the extent their striking foliage. their
strange habits, and the singular and
splendid beauty Of their flowers de-
serve. The two yellow species are
frequently associated, but, the large
purple one have seen only in the bogs
of Florida and of Southeastern Georgia.
As far south as the gulf coast of Mis-
slssippi the foliage of the pitcher plant
is practically evergreen. frost rarely
cutting it down, so that throughout the
winter months the trumpets will he
found in flourishing condition, their
hollows generally pretty well filed with
the remains of insects that have 'loved
| not wisely but too well.n Splitting a
pitcher open from end TO end early in
February found these remains in every
stage of decomposition. At the bottom
of the funnel the mass was dark. ink
like fluid, and passing upward it grad
ually became more solid, until at the
top lay n good-sized miller and some
half-decayed flies. What compost
heap for plant to make for its own use.
What raw material out of which to man.
ufacturc incomparably curious and
strangely beautiful blooms, Ruskin
petulantly demands of the scientists an
explanation of how the sap flows
through the tissues of a plant. ! join
him and add the request that these
| same scientists tell me how, in the cum
ningly formed alembic of the Sdrracenia
all this filthy and recking mass of dead
insect remains is transmitted into the
pale gold, softly ruflled petals of this
grand flower tossing on the balmy
wind-currents of February. After all,
however, why should we wonder more
at one operation of nature than at an
other! 1t is the unusual that strikes us
as mysterious, while the usual, no mat
ter how inexplicab.e, never excites our
Imagination, SO says philosopher.
IL is worth noting that the most lux
uriant of the pitcher-plants grows
usually in the poorest soil of the sandy
Southern lowlands, while our one
Northern species, rather insignificant
plant, is found in very rich bogs. This
would seem to indicate that the sdr-
racenia is more indebted to its captured
food than to the soil for its perfect de-
velopment, and that it flourishcs most
where during almost the entire year in
sects are plentiful
As to these plants digesting the in
sects, there is no proof TO my mind Of
any thing like the animal process. The
insects quickly die after entering the
pitcher, and the process of decomposi-
ton sets in at once. Water of rain and
dew is caught in the tube and sinks to
the bottom, where the animal matter is
mixed with it and slowly taken into
the plant tissue there and conveyed to
the root, whence it rises into the scape
and helps to give to the flower IL FieA
color and luxurious development; but
all this is really no more wonderful
than that a rose should be fed by roots
cropping in damp loan, or that any
plant should come from a seed covered
by soil.
As if impelled by some half grotesque
mood of nature the uncommon is not
able in every stage of the pitcher plants 5
growth. The sced-pod is almost un-
canny in appearance with its warty
skin, and it may be this feature that has
given it the name Of "toad-frog
flower.n
The artist found it most refractory
subject as TO both drawing and color
ing, but the stndies appeared to me ex-
ceptionally fine-when away from the
presence of the Incompatible models
Maurice Thompson, in Chicago Times.